It's funny how things just come back to you sometimes. When I was a little kid I had a book, or someone had it, and I could look at it. Ownership isn't really my point here. But the book was this poem, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast. Even as someone who gets a little antsy ha-ha when a lot of insects are around I'd have to admit the illustrations were gorgeous.
Now if you'd asked me when this had been written, I'd have said probably the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. Couldn't be from before Victoria's time, right? But as it turns out that it was first published in 1802, when George III was still King. Also that the poet, William Roscoe, was an influential abolitionist, which is pretty cool.
2 comments:
It is funny how things come back to one. In this case I didn't remember the book until Jer reminded me of this one illustrated by Alan Aldridge in 1973. Aldridge was famous in the 60s for his album cover designs - he was very free with his palette and some of the illustrations were most definitely gorgeous. Then there were the times when everything was overdone, too busy with colors and forms running into one another.
The 1973 one was very good but I rather like the original version from 1807, it's not as colorful but the drawings have a strange charm.
Yes, you have to appreciate the abolitionists, especially the early ones like William Roscoe. I liked the story that when he was asked by Sir Joseph Banks to investigate the claims of the blind girl Margaret M'Avoy, who was said to be able to read using her fingers. Roscoe concluded that her amazing abilities were due to the fact that she was not blind.
Yes, Alan Aldridge. That's the version I remember, with his illustrations. I had no idea that the same artist had done the cover for The Who's A Quick One, a very cool assignment. I also remember the Penguin Book of Comics, although I didn't quite understand the chapters on British comics. Oddly a few years later a lot of writers and artists from British comic books, especially 2000AD, would start getting heavy work in American comics. I have to admit that some of Aldridge's art could be considered overly busy, although he's very good in general.
The pictures from the 1807 version are lovely. Probably less colorful because 19th C. printers were mostly working with a smaller selection of inks, but that's not a big problem for me. As far as putting dormice in British children's literature it looks like Roscoe was decades ahead of Lewis Carroll.
Sorry, Margaret. As they say, all good things come to an end.
Post a Comment